


RANCOR :: BLOODHOUND ARC

by MaruMaru



Series: Aberverse [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Cliffhanger Prologue, Cybernetics, Cyberpunk, Disturbing Themes, Dystopia, Evil Corporations, F/M, Government Experimentation, Graphic Description, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Infiltration, Near Future, Old Gods, Superheroes, Superpowers, Terrorism, crossposted
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-04-19 01:23:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14226048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaruMaru/pseuds/MaruMaru
Summary: Dedicated to certain people who didn't think I would actually write this. Fuck you.





	1. INFILTRATION (PROLOGUE)

2051 AD. Universe HUNDFALTER-032618-2AM

* * *

 

8 PM, 4/04/51

“You sure this’ll work?”

Standing on top of a large building, two young adults looked down at the city below them, the sound of cars honking resonating through the skyline. The faint glow of the city lights looked like fireflies and the two could even see some flying cars zipping away, leaving neon air trails that would slowly dissipate into the atmosphere. One of the two figures, a girl with short, curly hair, leaned back on the railing. Even though she was dangerously close to falling over the edge, she didn’t seem to be the least bit bothered by possibly dying a horrible death.

“Oh lighten up, Ennie! Of course it’ll work, even with all those PMCs Bloodhound has working for them. ‘Sides, you _should’ve_ already known about that, riiiiiight?” The girl grinned, making the red haired man step back slightly. He cleared his throat and looked off to the side before facing his companion again.

“First of all, it’s _Enoch,_ Vaneza. Second of all, even if I _am_ Ms. Chernova-”

“That bitch,” The girl chimed in, her eyes lighting up in rage. Enoch flinched at her tone and rubbed his temples.

“-’s personal secretary, she doesn’t exactly give me all the information to what she does with Bloodhound LLC. She’s i-incredibly paranoid and-”

“Which is why she’ll back off after the Four Horsemen take her down!” Vaneza crowed, striking a pose. A car zooming past had started to slow down near their building and Enoch slammed his palm onto her mouth. She struggled slightly, reaching up to remove Enoch’s hand as he made a ‘shh’ gesture. The Irish man peeked over the side of the building to watch the car go back to its normal speed, a bright blue neon trail dragging after it. Enoch let go of her and Vaneza shoved him, pouting.

Along with two other members, Vaneza Anjae and Enoch Cavanaugh were members of the known Aberrant group, Four Horsemen. Aberrants were people that possessed powers beyond human imaginings, such as omnipresence or darkness manipulation. Hell, there could even be someone that would change reality just by stating their beliefs. Whatever it was, that power was possible. Even though people questioned where they came from, there were some rumors about the government getting involved in Aberrant creation, but those facts were never proven to be true. After multiple incidents regarding lawsuits when some Aberrants would attempt to fight back crime, a plan was made to keep Aberrants in line and force them to become citizens. While this seemed simple on paper, any Aberrant could be hunted down by police or the government for simply not conforming to the Bradford plan. Corporate organizations and entities took this opportunity to see this as a new marketing gimmick and took full advantage of it.

 _‘Drink this soda,’_ an entity would proclaim, _‘If superheroes could support this drink and save the day, so can you!’_

_‘Time and time again, Aberrants have been known to cause too much chaos, enlist in the T-KAYO-5 police tactical unit, we-’_

_‘Everyday, supers are out there fighting crime, doing more work than anyone else. But at times like these, they need to replenish their health with a nice cup o-_

_‘Out there, Aberrants are suffering, and for what? Some piece of paper? In a collaboration with UNICEF, we at-’_

The corporations went on and on with those commercials and public service announcements. All of them were common: empty promises, empty promotions. Sure, they would say that they advocated for the Bradford plan to be removed, but then go behind the people’s backs and fund a pro-Plan enforcer. Something had to be done, everybody was being lied to and there was no sense of justice for this deception and discrimination, both for the government and for the ‘propaganda’ going on. Hell, some protestors compared it to a corporatocracy.

That was where Four Horsemen came in. Although it was labelled as a ‘terrorist placebo organization’ by mainstream media, they specifically targeted anti-Aberrant organizations. Some saw it as a liberating force while others saw it comparable to ISIS or the KKK. It was always the same, even when their main objective was for the good of all people.

Of course, little did they know were that all of the members were anxiety-ridden, young adults that had no idea what they were doing most of the time.

“You’re sooo lucky Damon isn’t here to beat you up! He’d rip you to shreds and throw you off the side of this building if you touched me like that,” Vaneza hissed, staring down at the lights below them. “Speaking of which, how is he doing? Is he okay with Amara?”

“I’m sure they’re fine. Damon knows what he’s doing, especially with our newcomer! It’s a good thing she can manipulate emotions, huh?” Vaneza glanced back at him, giving the Aberrant a thumbs up.

“Heh, yeah. Wait-”

Just before he could speak, a horrible squelching sound filled the air. The sound of paper ripping amplified itself in the area, causing Enoch and Vaneza to cover their ears. Enoch could see reality flicker from the corners of his vision, seeing a glitch-like effect around him. The horrible cacophony ended and Enoch immediately pressed his thumb to a circular cyborg-like apparatus on his palm. A dark turquoise square came out of it and expanded to a portal. Enoch reached inside, felt something form around his fingers, and pulled it out to see an energy pistol. Wrapping his fingers around the grip, the portal shifted back into a square and Enoch turned around, ready to shoot at the threat.

Instead of a T-KAYO-5 PMC soldier or any type of law enforcement, the source of the ‘music’ had come from two (three if you counted the body on one of their shoulders) figures just a yard behind them. One of them collapsed to their knees, getting up shakily only to puke on the concrete floor. The other one was a tall, pale man with dark circles under his eyes and even darker hair. One side of it was shaved, and just over the man’s shoulder was someone dressed in tactical gear. He glared at the person accompanying him, wrinkling his nose in disgust at her retching noises. He shifted the other man’s weight against his shoulder, tossing him towards Enoch and Vaneza. The guard groaned as Damon kicked the guard’s side, causing the human to cough up blood. It stained his gear, painting the dark armor with a splash of red bodily paint.

“Dameyyyyy! Amara! You’re back! How was the trip?!” Vaneza squeaked, oblivious to Amara’s puking noises just in the background. They were replaced by some guttural coughing noises, which slowly dissolved into hiccups. The girl then stood up, her bright pink outfit a contrast to what just happened. She wiped her mouth and Enoch winced at the acid stains on her jaw. Amara glared back at him and pulled up a surgical mask to cover up her face.

“Vaneza, I swear to fucking God. If your _boyfriend_ does that to me again I’m personally making sure he suffers the same side effects too, ugh,” Amara groaned, stepping up to the group. Her voice was muffled due to the face mask, but Enoch could just _feel_ the disgust lining her voice.

‘You know, that’s impossible,’ A clear, yet sharp voice rang throughout the area. Damon was staring down at Amara and the dark-skinned girl winced at his glare. ‘I’m already immune to what the Voidwalker gave me, thankfully. It’s unfortunate that some people aren’t immune.’

Enoch, being one of the two recent additions to Four Horsemen, never understood what his colleague meant by that. Sure, it was always unnerving for a silent man to start ‘talking’ to you with his mental-based powers, but his talks about ‘The Voidwalker’ and ‘leeches’ made Enoch suspicious. It was already bad enough going behind his paranoid boss’s back repeatedly but this? If it wasn’t for the fact that he was still alive, he would’ve immediately feared his co-worker.

“Yeah yeah, didja get the access cards from _him,_ honey?” Vaneza pointed towards the soldier, who refused to get up in his weakened state. Amara squatted down to his level as Damon flicked his hand, four cards appearing in between his fingers. He held them to the group as the Aberrants took it from his hands. Enoch took the light blue colored one, wincing at the ‘LV.4’ label on it. How could someone be this careless?

“Oooh! Niiiice, you got the ones we needed!” Just before Enoch could say anything, he was interrupted, again, by something nearby. The soldier coughed up more blood, weakly turning his head towards Vaneza. He never noticed Enoch, who felt sweat dripping down his back. The PMC agent couldn’t recognize him, no way.

“Yoouuuuu hellspawn!” He gurgled, more of the red liquid tumbling out of his lips. “How dare you desecrate our leader’s true goal?! You people deserve to be in jail and rot-”

“There we go,” Amara said, placing her hands on both sides of the man’s face. His arms reached up to grab her, but a pink glow emerged from her palms, focusing around the soldier’s head. In just those few seconds, his expression went from furrowed eyebrows and gnashed teeth, to a blank stare. Amara took a deep breath and almost immediately jumped five feet, a spring in her step. It was a strange contrast from her victim’s current emotion. Who knew emotion manipulators were that terrifying?

“Looks like we’re ready to go! Damey, help me dispose of this body and we’ll get to work! They’ll never see it coming,” Vaneza winked as a dark, indigo colored energy extended from her back. A brief flash of light from Vaneza’s body temporarily blinded the group as she said that. When they regained their vision, they saw pink-purple butterfly wings extended from her back. The design reminded Enoch of monarch butterflies. They flapped silently in the air as she took off, grabbing the body from her boyfriend’s arms.

It was go time.

***

Of course they were going to use him as a plant.

Enoch, now in the main city’s streets, walked to the main BLOODHOUND building. His Dimen:SiA Augment vibrated in his palms slightly, but the Irishman tried to ignore it the best he could. Thunder rumbled in the distance and people moved past him, umbrellas protecting New York City’s citizens from the rainstorm. A curved display screen, just on the side of the bus stop, flickered over to an advertisement for BLOODHOUND’s Augments. Enoch glanced over and winced at the price, why would you increase groundbreaking technology up to five hundred dollars? There was a brief flash of static and Enoch jumped at the noise, nearly activating Dimen:Sia. Instead of the advertisement, WABC-7 had appeared instead, showing an anchorwoman with messy blonde hair. Some cybernetic Augment was attached on her mandible, going down her face and stopping at her neck.

“Good evening, New York City, I’m Calista Iavarone with your 24/7 news report. We have breaking news over in the state of Alabama,” she announced as the image next to her showed a map of Alabama. Under the state was the text ‘RADICAL GROUP EVIDENCE?’ in white. Enoch’s eyes widened as his throat turned dry, he took a few steps back as his Augment vibrated again. He tuned out the speaker’s voice as the footage cut over to a large car, smashed into a tree. Multiple PMC soldiers and police officers were hovering over the wreckage, trying to figure anything out. Smoke rose from the wrecked car as the reporter went on and on, saying something about ‘finding the illegal terrorist group.’

That’s what the press called it now, ‘terrorist groups.’ Usually these ‘harmful people’ were actually Aberrants trying to find a loophole around the Bradford Plan by _directly_ interacting with justice and the government. As a response, some groups were lynched either publicly or privately, the news groups passing it off as ‘ritualistic suicide’ or an accidental death. Although Enoch wasn’t an Aberrant (the only source of his power came from his Augments), seeing and hearing about these events sickened him. Enoch kept watching as new footage showed up on the screen. Some PMC soldier had tongs in their hands, they picked up something off of the ground. A glowing indigo rock, they placed it in a bag as another agent came up to them. They made a few quick gestures that were subtle enough for any passerby not to notice before it cut back to Calista, but Enoch wasn’t stupid. Subliminal messaging wasn’t new to Enoch in any way, although some people were more blatant than others.

_‘Money? For that?’_

_‘Yes. Good quality too. Get back to work.’_

Disgusting. Clever and disgusting.

“In an attempt to erase their identity, the Aberrant known as _Rotgut_ has escaped, possibly endangering themself and others. The reward for bringing the criminal in has reached to over 100,000 dollars. Any other surviving members of Rotgut’s radicalist group can also be brought in with a reward of-”

Enoch walked away after seeing enough, a pit forming in his stomach. He looked around for any similar reactions, but his anxiety only grew when he saw that barely anybody paid attention. They were all probably desensitized to this, considering that anything like this _always happened on a daily business._ His heart fluttered with anxiety and he swallowed, walking straight to the doors of BLOODHOUND LLC.

But not before an assault rifle barrel pointed at his chest.

Like any normal person, Enoch immediately screamed and put his hands up. People kept walking by, but some citizens chose to stop and stare. Enoch could hear quick clicking noises from the weapon as he winced, waiting for the bullets to pierce his skin. He wasn’t even _in_ the building yet and already he was going to get shot.

“Oi, Bowman!” Some small noises beeped from the other guard as his helmet, covering his entire head, switched to a display of Enoch’s ID. The secretary opened one of his eyes and winced when he saw his profile came up.  “That’s Chernova’s secretary! You know what she’ll do to you if she finds out her top intel got shot by some rookie?!”  
“Wh- hwuh?! I-I’m so sorry, sir, Laur should’ve-” The other guard’s helmet switched over to a LED display of a white exclamation point.  
“I should’ve what, you backpedaling asshole?!” Laur shoved Bowman away from Enoch, causing the secretary to lower his hands. The two began to argue as Enoch tried to squeeze past the guards. Unfortunately, Enoch flinched when the first guard clasped a hand on his shoulder. A cold sweat dripped down Enoch’s back as he trembled in fear. What had gone wrong now?  
“Secretary Cav...Cavanaugh?” It was near impossible to tell the tone from Laur’s voice, as it was muffled through his gear. Enoch felt like he was stepping into a minefield.  
“Yes?” Enoch asked, keeping his voice steady.  
“Make sure you stay away from the fifth level of the facility, would you?” Oh thank God, he wasn’t going to be littered with bullet holes this time. Enoch opened his mouth to ask why, but Laur quickly shut him up. “We’re doing repairs there and we’re supposed to get… more intel on the Augment shipping, you know how it is.”  
“O-of course!” Enoch stuttered out, trying not to seem impatient to the armed man in front of him. Laur chuckled and slapped the Irish man’s shoulder, laughing as Enoch scurried away. He looked behind him, then ran into a elevator. He pressed a button and watched the doors close as Bowman stared at Enoch. A light tune played in the elevator as Enoch held his hand up, looking at his Augment. Looking around the small space, he didn’t see any cameras pointing at him, so he touched his palm again. This time, a ‘window,’ consisting of dark teal and black squares formed. Once the shape was formed, Enoch came face to face with his colleagues. Vaneza looked _pissed,_ her warm brown eyes glaring at the non-Aberrant as her nostrils flared. The only thing holding her back was her boyfriend, as something glitched out on his face.

“When I said ‘you should put us in a box and send it in,’ I didn’t mean this!” The girl said, pointing an accusatory finger at Enoch. He flinched at the shrill, reverb-y tone (the latter being caused by the Augment) as Damon just stared at him. Enoch could’ve sworn he saw his form flicker a few times.

“Will you hush?! This is the only way to do this without causing suspicion!” Enoch kept looking around him, making sure that the elevator wouldn’t open up on either side. “Did you see the two guards out there?! I almost got shot! You know what would’ve happened if I got shot, right?” That got Vaneza to shut up, her face morphing into shock. Enoch rolled his eyes and clenched his fist, ending the ‘video call.’

Just as he did, the elevator made a ‘ding!’ noise, opening up the doors to the left of Enoch. He walked through the hallways, the sounds of his footsteps echoing in the now empty halls. Quiet music played in the background as he looked around for a room. Enoch sneaked into a conference room, looked around for the final time, and placed a loosely closed fist around his Augment, dragging it outwards. The same cube from before was dragged out and it rippled briefly before spitting out Enoch’s colleagues.

Vaneza was the first to come out, with Damon and Amara nearly flattening her under their combined weight. She screeched, pounding the ground in an attempt to non-verbally tell the two to get off of her. Amara was shoved off by Damon and he helped Vaneza up. Her wings were flapping furiously, barely making any noise. Damon and Amara peeked outside as Vaneza began to levitate, staring down at Enoch.

"Alright, 'top Bloodhound employee,' how the hell do you expect us to evade all the cameras surrounding the building? The instant your boss goes back to review the footage, she'll rip off your hands!" Vaneza tilted her head towards the door.

"Oh- says the one that wanted to go in 'guns blazing!'" Amara said, pointing an accusatory finger at her leader.

"Never said that specifically, I'm just concerned considering that Chernova is extremely paranoid and she has so much surveillance and--" Vaneza stumbled on her words as footsteps approached the door. Damon, the closest to the exit, simply grunted and melted into the shadows of the room as Amara dived under the table and Vaneza hid in a closet. Thus, only leaving Enoch as he quickly sat in a chair, acting like he wasn't a traitor. The door opened and a guard stepped inside, his helmet discarded as Enoch glanced over at them. Scars littered her face as she tried to get her long black hair out of her face. Enoch gave a small wave towards the stressed woman, giving her a brief pity smile. He could barely make out the word 'Accardi' on her shoulder.

"What're you doing here this late?" She asked as the shadows around her moved slightly, ready to strike. The room suddenly felt colder as Enoch unconsciously shivered. He turned his chair towards her, trying to make sure that she didn't see Amara.

"I thought there was a meeting," he replied back as nonchalantly as he could. He tried not to stare at the amalgamation of shadows behind her writhing in impatience.

"Listen, Ms. Chernova said nothing about a meeting- She's currently in the Senate right now, remember?" The Senate. His boss was in the U.S. Senate, probably trying to rally troops over-

"O-oh well, you know how she is! She... never tells me anything--" Enoch tried to find the right words to say as something shadowy yanked on his leg. He kicked at it, mentally telling the tendril to wait a few more minutes. Accardi raised an eyebrow at him, but Enoch flashed a nervous smile.

"Enoch, you're going to have to come with me because I'm not sure how the hell Laur let you pass, but..." Enoch flinched as he saw her reach to her side. He whipped his hand over the table and began to tap.

Three short taps, three long ones, and then another set of three taps.

"Is that Mors-" Just as the girl looked over at him, the shadows curved outward as Damon separated from his shadowy domain. With wisps of darkness curling around his body, shadowy appendages extended from his back, like spider legs. In that split second, Damon yanked Accardi's arm backward, causing a cry of pain from the guard. Accardi tried to shoot him in the face, but he twisted her wrist, thus redirecting Accardi's shot at the ceiling. While he did duck his head down slightly, the only thing that fell between the two was dust from the ceiling tiles. He yanked the guard's arm downwards, causing her to drop the gun as Vaneza and Amara appeared from their hiding spots.

"Aberrants!" Accardi gasped, her injured arm twitching.

"Us!" Vaneza gleefully cackled, oblivious to Enoch's look of horror plastered on his face.

Damon jabbed his fingernails into Accardi's temples, causing the indents to break the skin and bleed as she screamed. Vaneza flew past Enoch (surprising the Irish man in the process, he almost got slapped by her wings) and slammed a hand on Accardi's mouth, presumably to keep her from screaming for help. The guard's eyes frantically looked around, her face becoming more and more hollowed out. After waiting for a few moments as her movements slowly transitioned over from active to slow and sluggish, Damon removed his hands away from Accardi's head and slammed his elbow straight into her face. Her nose jutted into a crooked position and Enoch winced as blood spilled from the broken appendage. Damon moved away as the PMC agent stumbled around like a lost child, mumbling something in an unknown language. Enoch whipped his head back from her to Damon, whose facial expression was still as stone cold as ever. What did he do to her?

"Oh my God, that was, like, soooo easy! I thought we would've gotten a better challenge," The butterfly-winged girl giggled as she watched Accardi suffer.

"You're creeping out the only normal human here, love," Damon 'said,' tilting his head towards Enoch, his face about as pale as snow. He raised an eyebrow, As Enoch shakily signed an 'OK' gesture at him (by curling two of his fingers with his thumb together and jutting them outwards), Damon nodded and turned back to the group. "However, I have the target's location. Isn't it just a neat coincidence that the first person we meet has it?"

"I pledge onto you....... Voidwalker...." Accardi mumbled, interrupting Damon. A brief snapping noise was heard as Damon snapped his head back to glare down at her. All she could do is flinch and shiver, holding up her arms to her face in an attempt to protect herself.

"So where's the target?" Amara asked. "And what are we gonna do with the unwilling stool pigeon over there?" When Damon didn't answer her, the dark-skinned woman's palms glowed a faint pink color and she approached the convulsing Accardi. Damon stepped in Amara's way and shook his head.

"Level 5, somewhere in one of the big conference rooms. He's there in place of Marisol, shouldn't be too hard to find." Just as he 'said' that, alarms went off as Amara screeched and covered her ears. The guard groaned, slammed her head into the wall as Enoch felt the building vibrate slightly. His Augment vibrated in response and Enoch shivered at the numb sensation embedded in his palm.

"You just had to say something, didn't you?!" Enoch hissed, yanking at Damon's arm. He shrugged in response and gestured over to now wailing security guard. Vaneza eyed her up and nodded as she pressed herself against the door, opening it up slightly to watch for any guards. Amara put her hand over Accardi's mouth, watching the energy flow out of her into her hand. The pastel wearing girl made a happy squealing noise and yanked Vaneza out into the hall. Now with a drunken stupor on the guard's face, Damon held out his hand to Enoch and waited.

Enoch's hand twitched before he realized what his co-worker was going to do. He summoned another portal from his Augment, this time pulling out a sharp blade. He handed it over to Damon, swallowing dryly as the other man gently ran his thumb along the flat side of the blade. He turned away and winced when loud squelching noises filled his ears, the scent of warm piss entering his nose.

***

Bloodied and bruised, the Four Horsemen dragged themselves over to two big doors. Beside the left door was a plaque, displaying the name 'Raleigh Fisk' in big bold letters with braille below it. Enoch carefully pressed his ear to the door, making sure not to lean on it as he tried to listen for anything trapped inside the room. Silence reached his ears and he turned towards Vaneza.

"I can't hear anything in here, he's probably waiting for us," Enoch explained. Vaneza looked like hell, with her normally fluffy pink hair messy and bloody and shards of... something embedded in her hand. Enoch could've sworn that he saw moths hanging on the underside of her hair. Her arms shook as she leaned in, trying to hear something. She shook her head silently, then made a quick gesture that caused the rest of the team to press up against the wall. Vaneza sighed, stretching out her wings as she lifted up her foot. With a powerful kick, she grunted and slammed her sole into the door. It burst open as she ran inside, her teammates on her trail. Enoch pulled out his gun from before, pointing it to different areas of the room as the doors closed behind him. The Irish man lowered his weapon slightly as he looked around, switching on the lights. The room was empty and sparse as if nobody ever worked here. He looked out towards the large windows overlooking the large city but noticed a chair facing away from them, staring at the skyline.

"RALEIGH!" Vaneza howled, her voice double toned and pitched downward. "You better have one good fucking reason not for us to kill you right now!" Her wings fluttered angrily as she waited for a response.

Her response came in the form of sickly groans. Vaneza's fist shook as Enoch could see visible, sickly veins emerge on her clenched hands. She mumbled something incoherent under her breath before addressing Raleigh again.

"Quit acting like that and answer us, pussy!"

More groans. Amara reached out to calm Vaneza but she screeched again. Vaneza stomped over to face the target. Her furrowed eyebrows and squinted eyes slowly faded away to shock the instant she looked at him. Enoch raised an eyebrow and walked over to her as Vaneza slowly raised her hand up to her mouth.

Oh.

 **_OH_ **.

Tied down to the chair was the convulsing corpse of Raleigh Fisk, his hair bun undone as his cherry red hair cascaded down his shoulders. Some parts of her hair were gone, replaced by shiny bald spots. His eyes were rolled to the back of his head, only showing his white sclerae as black, sickly veins pulsed within his eye. Black mist flowed out of his open mouth, his jaw unhinged as the four rebels took in the disturbing, gruesome sight. Just covering his midsection was a large white sign, with four words scrawled on it sloppily.

' TO o

                         L Aa t E :) '

Enoch could've sworn he heard a faint beeping noise.

"Th- someone got here before us, how?!" Vaneza pondered out loud, stepping closer to Raleigh’s corpse. As she quickly looked him over, the beeping sound slowly increased in volume. Enoch heard more rumbling inside the building and he looked out the large windows to see a mass of PMC soldiers leaving the building. With several BLOODHOUND employees (whose facial expressions Enoch couldn’t read from at least 50 feet in the sky), he could see them scatter and flee the premises.

 _Beep…. beep….. beep…._  
“Looks like something tried to smother him,” Vaneza’s voice cut through the beeps. “Key word here being tried, I mean, they could’ve poisoned him since-”

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

Enoch put two and two together as the beeping noise invaded his ears. Why would the soldiers purposely throw out their lives like that? Even if it was a job, Enoch noticed that some of them were a bit _too_ happy to throw themselves into a bunch of angry Aberrants. He looked down on the street again, noticing that there was nobody close enough to the building. The beeping became more frequent as Enoch’s eyes widened in fear. As if in slow motion, he turned around, reaching out towards Vaneza, still poking the corpse.  
“NO! Vaneza, stop! Don’t touch the cor-”

Unfortunately for him, the timer was faster than his late warning. The noises turned shrill as Raleigh’s corpse exploded outward, the bomb catching its four targets completely by surprise. Enoch felt flames ignite his skin as a propelling force pushed the four of them out the large windows. He could feel glass shards stab into his skin as he fell in slow motion. The ringing sound in his ears overlaid the sounds of his screaming friends. Enoch’s skin screamed at him as the man looked at his arms, still on fire. His skin had started to char, and Enoch could’ve sworn he saw his alabaster bones exposed to the atmosphere. He glanced over towards his team, all on fire and panicking as he felt drowsiness overcome him. All feeling in his body left him gradually, the feeling in his hands turning numb. The last thing he saw before a building’s roof rapidly approached him were black feathers, dissipating into the air.

 **CRUNCH!**  



	2. AXiS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dedicated to certain people who didn't think I would actually write this. Fuck you.

* * *

Chapter One: AXiS

Eight months before the explosion…

* * *

 

When Enoch was small, he used to watch superhero cartoons.

It was always the same routine: run down the stairs, grab any type of snack he could find and plop down right on the carpet. His father would almost always scream at him for being so close to the television (claimed that the ‘subliminal messages’ inside the TV would turn his brain into mush), Enoch would ignore him, and he would continue watching. Every time a commercial would appear, the redhead would get pissy and try to keep himself busy. On some days, his father would have to switch the channel just to make sure his son wouldn’t be ‘addicted.’ Even if Enoch did stay, the instant that people with military uniforms would appear on the screen, the child was always ushered out of the room.

Looking back on it now, maybe the subliminal messaging was for his (possible) enlistment in the United States armed forces? That would explain a lot-

“Hello? Enoch, y’ there, buddy?” Enoch blinked, flinching as someone waved a hand in front of his face. When the appendage didn’t hit him, Enoch’s vision cleared to see a girl staring at him. With her hair loosely tied into two low buns, she glanced at her hand and then Enoch’s face, yanking it back.

“பேதியாகு-- [Shit-] Oh- I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize-” Enoch shook his head, waving her off.

“Kala, it’s fine. I haven’t gotten much sleep and all these tests they keep putting me on are tiring me out a-and-”

“En. We’re in an expensive _coffeeshop,_ you didn’t even order anything!” Kala sank back on her chair with a huff, sipping something that smelled like cinnamon. “The _least_ you could do is order something if you’re that self aware.”

“You seem upset.”

“I am. Here-” She slid something towards him in a cup and Enoch caught it, examining the drink. “-I ordered this for you. It’s a cordato, should be able to perk you up in seconds.” Her fingertips were covered in smeared, white paint, but Enoch thought that his mind was only playing tricks on him because he was tired.

“Thanks,” he grumbled. He glanced at the window, squinting as he could see the slight dark circles under his eyes and pale skin. The Irish man looked at the small coffee shop around him, his ears picking up noises of excited patrons and hushed conversations. The levitating flat screen TV by the counter was showing a news report of something with a dog logo, with words under it reading ‘TERRORISTS THREATEN BH LLC.’ No one seemed to be paying too close attention to it, but every now and then he could see Kala watch it in awe.

He placed the drink up to his lips and took a sip, instinctively wincing at the taste. Besides the bitter espresso, something in there tasted like pen ink. Kala raised an eyebrow at him as he put his cup down.

“Somethin’s up with this- what did you put in it? It kind of tastes like ink,” he asked, turning to his best friend.

“How dare you! I’d never do such a thing,” Kala gasped. Enoch squinted at her, watching her glance off to the right, then back at him. His drink rippled slightly and he took another sip, thankful that the ink-like taste was gone.

“Mmhmf,” Enoch grunted, downing the coffee in one swig. His throat burned as he grabbed his textbooks from the side of the table, starting to walk out of the small coffee shop. Kala looked outside, then back at him again.  As he waited at the exit for his friend, he watched Kala place crumpled up dollar bills on the counter. The doors automatically opened for him as Enoch took in some fresh air.

Enoch Cavanaugh and Kala Shamar were students at Syracuse University in New York. The girl was studying for a forensic sciences degree while Enoch wanted to focus on business. He wasn’t sure which specific major, but he’d pick something that would suit him. Residing from Fort Edward, NY, Enoch was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. If there was anything that he wanted or wished for, it would always be delivered to him. He didn’t have any siblings, so Enoch had never felt overshadowed, as he was always waited on hand and foot. As his grew into his teen years, sometimes it got a bit too overbearing, but he couldn’t complain.

Sometimes he could remember the days where his father shielded him from whatever was ‘lower’ than the Cavanaugh family. Anything military related, anything related to the growing slums in cybernetic U.S. cities, anything regarding the ‘Supers’ conflict et cetera. He could vividly remember one day where someone covered in tattered clothing reached out to him, but his father yanked him back and ushered him into his school building. The last thing he would hear was a car door opening and ribs being broken, an ugly crunching noise.

Now here he was, a senior at one of the best universities in New York state. He didn’t mind the large size of the campus, he easily made some friends, and didn’t find any of the classes challenging. Hell, he ended up meeting Kala, and she turned out to be decent. He would notice tiny things about her that would unease him slightly, however. He could recall one day when the two were in the library and he asked if she had a pencil. The next thing he knew, it just _manifested from thin air_ into her hand and something paintlike appeared on his fingers for a day. When question about it, her only excuse was that she told Enoch it was only because he didn’t get enough sleep.

Sleep. It was almost always sleep. He never did bother to confront her about it. It wasn’t like she was spewing out constant lies.

The two walked on one of the paths surrounding the campus towards one of the larger buildings of the campus. Enoch looked around him to see students lying on the grass, studying, taking a nap, or even talking with one another. Amidst all of that, however, were the slightest of technological advancements in the university. Some guards with helmets stood outside of certain buildings or areas, keeping an eye out for any illegal activity. Sometimes, if a security agent did as much as _look_ at Enoch and Kala, the latter would scoot closer to Enoch. Unlike any other normal day at his college, there were a lot more guards than normal. Some of them even inadvertently spooked away a few college kids as they paced up and down the walkways and streets of the university.

“Hey,” Enoch said, turning his head towards Kala. “Do you have any idea what’s going on? Is there a big party or something?”

“I’m…” She glanced at the guards, closely watching their actions, and then back to him. “...Not too sure. It feels claustrophobic with _them_ around.” Enoch pondered over her words as the two approached the business part of the college. The PMC agents surrounding his school made him suspicious, but with the amount of bulletproof cars (thick windows, a bulky habitus for the car, etc) there were, Enoch’s mind raced with possibilities.

Just as Enoch stepped a bit closer to the doors, something made him pause. The air around him felt lighter somehow and Enoch felt his body become more alert. Something twitched in the corner of his vision and Enoch felt something big and heavy slam into him from his side. Just as Enoch’s back collided with the pavement, his eyes widened as the air surrounding one of the cars seemed to pull itself inwards, then out.

And then it exploded, turning the vehicle into a massive fireball.

Enoch screeched, rolling away from the destruction as best as he could. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck. His ears ringed slightly as he covered them up, scrunching his eyes together as he waited for death’s cold embrace. He quickly opened up his eyes when something dragged him over a bit closer to the building, and gaped at what he saw.

Some young woman, maybe about as old as him, was standing on something white and fluffy, almost resembling a cloud. With wild, strawberry blonde hair, tanned skin and what looked like a skin-tight tactical gear suit, she looked down at Enoch with… regret? A feminine figure next to cloud lady materialized from thin air and stared down at Enoch. His skin turned pale and he cowered in fear. Was this how he was going to die? So much for trying to inherit his father’s business.

“Aw- Bels! That’s the--- ng… t…” the second figure flickered in and out of reality as Enoch tried scooting away from the wreckage and the two ‘terrorists.’ He got up on his feet and tried to find his books, but jumped when he felt wind flow past him. He looked up to see the same girl from before, now holding his… textbooks in front of him.

“Oh- I’m so sorry!” ‘Bels’ said, bowing her head. “Are you hurt? We didn’t mean for that to happen and-” She kept rambling on and on as Enoch gingerly took his books from the girl’s hands.

“We?” He asked. She opened her mouth to say something, but pressed a finger to her ear and made a ‘hold on’ gesture at him. ‘Bels’ nodded at the voice, her face twisting into a confused grimace. She removed her finger from her ear and zoomed off past him, mumbling something about ‘stupid rotgut.’

Suddenly, Enoch was surrounded by a swarm of PMC soldiers. Something yanked his books away from him as Enoch heard the sounds of guns clicking off their safety. His hand shook as chatter erupted on him from all sides. He squeezed past the guards, but not just before being yanked behind a bench by Kala. From the distance, Enoch could see one of them gesture over to a large car as one of its windows rolled down. A tan hand draped over the half-exposed window, pointing two fingers at the PMC agents,making some sort of a gun gesture. The window quickly rolled back up and the hand disappeared.

“Sol gave the approval- fire!” The commander of the MC force said, his armor covered in more specialized gear than his subordinates. In an instant, gunshots echoed through the air as Bels and the other figure tried to defeat them. Enoch gaped as he watched the disappearing figure grab a guard, yanking him back with her as the two disappeared. Then, right before his very eyes, some of the opposing forces started to slowly disappear. He could even feel the _mere memory_ of them fading away in his mind. Regardless, Enoch watched the fight go on, his eyebrows twisting in concern. What the hell was going on? Next to him, Kala’s eyes lit up and she stared at the conflict in awe. He lightly slapped the side of her head, trying to get her attention.

“Wake up! I almost got killed and you’re over here fantasizing over- over them!” he screeched, pointing towards the fight. He could see some guard start choking on his own breath as his face turned blue, falling the ground as his body twitched. Enoch winced, but he couldn’t look away at the same time. It was almost like watching a car accident happen right in front of his eyes. Kala snapped out of it and he tried to escape the chaotic mess in front of him.

A scream made him look back at the incident. He watched one of the figures, someone with a black outfit, grope at their shoulder. Enoch could see blood drip out of the wound as Bels flew over in an attempt to help her co-worker. More blood emerged from the two girls as they were forced to retreat, trying to fly away from what they had created. Enoch could’ve sworn he heard Kala whisper ‘no!’ to herself when they left.

“Threat neutralized. Send some drones to track their movements,” Murmuring increased between the security guards as the group separated. More hushed murmurs reached Enoch’s ears as he looked around him, suddenly noticing a crowd of people staring. The student leaned out from his hiding spot, trying to merge with the crowd. Just as he did, however, the sound of a car door opening caught his attention.

Enoch couldn’t see who or what this person was, as they were surrounded by guards. They parted like the Red Sea as the figure walked up to the crowd. The university students all around Enoch broke into louder murmurs as the mystery person held up their arms, silencing the gaggle of college students.

“цыкать, цыкать,” [Hush, hush.] The person said as the last of the guards moved away from them. A woman with tan skin, stormy grey eyes and fancy, stylized long brown hair made a short curtsy as the sun shined on her gray business outfit. In an instant, people around her ceased their whispers as she began to speak.

“I take it that most of us haven’t been hurt, right?” She scanned the crowd, looking for anybody that was affected by the attack. Her gaze landed on Enoch, and she snapped her fingers as two of the SWAT guards hooked their arms under Enoch’s shoulders, throwing him next to the adult. Enoch could feel the crowd’s stares burn into him as the woman gestured over to him.

“You want to know why I said ‘most of us?’” She asked, doing air quotes with her fingers. “It’s only because someone-” She gestured towards Enoch, who struggled to get up, feeling some wound open up on his back. “-couldn’t foresee it in time. Who knows? If security hadn’t been there, one of the future’s leaders wouldn’t exist today.” Something dropped right next to Enoch, a small yellow canister about the size of a flash grenade, and it opened. As the woman talked on and on, Enoch felt a slight vibration as he watched the wounds on his body be automatically patched up. His eyes lit up in wonder as the canister shut itself off with a click, causing a guard to pick it up and put it away.

The woman finished her speech and made a ‘look at this!’ gesture to Enoch. He stood up as people continued to stare at him. “Look at him now! All healed up thanks to Bloodhound’s revolutionary JMS-076 biorepair field. Who knows what we could’ve used this tech for-” The instant she said ‘Bloodhound,’ Enoch’s eyes widened as he gaped at the lady standing next to him. No way, no fucking way. The college student could just pinch himself now. Was he dreaming?

“Ms. Chernova!” A student called out. “What is your opinion of The Apostate and-”

“President Chernova is _not_ taking any stances regarding the terrorist situation! Stand down or--” The guard stepped up, whipping out a baton as electricity crackled at the ends. Some students watching gasped and a few moved back. Chernova held up her hand, waving him away as he lowered his weapon.

“I can assure you, fellow American citizens. These… things will be dealt with accordingly. We can’t let chimeras like them get in the way of progress. Now, if you’ll excuse me-” She turned on her heel, slipping something towards Enoch quickly as she headed towards Syracuse University’s business school. People erupted into chatter as Enoch looked at the object in his hand. The crowd began to disperse and Kala ran up to him once the guards left with Chernova. She grabbed his shoulders and examined him, making sure that he wasn’t injured.

“Oh thank God, you’re okay! She didn’t poison you, did she?” She asked, glancing down at the object in his hand. It was an obsidian business card, with a fancy red-golden decal on the front of it, reading: ‘BLOODHOUND LLC.’ To the left of the letters was a bloodhound holding up its head high proudly. He flipped it to the other side to see her contact information and a small note scribbled onto it.

Meet me near the quad for information

regarding your ‘paid-internship program’

at the end of your classes.

Bring ‘K. Shamar’ with you and under

any circumstances, do not tell anybody

about this.

-Marisol Chernova

CEO of Bloodhound LLC

“Marisol Chernova, the leader of BLOODHOUND and a well-known member of the Senate,” Kala whispered. “She controls most of the security industry and is in the lead for cybernetic and biotic prosthetics. Think about it, En, you’re interning for her and-”

“Are you suggesting I should _cut off one of my limbs_ so you can ogle at it?” Enoch asked, a sly smile on his face. Kala snickered and shook her head, the tension between the two humans and the note clearing between them. Enoch opened up his phone and looked at the time, his eyes widening as he turned to his friend.

“You think the professor would take ‘used as a political piece’ as an excuse?”

****

Students poured out of the doors of one of the lecture halls as Enoch quickly stuffed his notes into his bag. He hoisted it over his shoulder and followed the crowd to the door, ready to leave for the day. The business card was still in his pocket, and just as half of his body was in the doorway, his phone began to vibrate. He quickly unlocked it with his fingerprint to see not one, but _several_ texts from Kala. He rolled his eyes and opened up the messaging app.

 

Enoch shut off his phone, groaning. He made his way towards the quad of his university to the administration building. He entered the building, pulling out his ID to scan at the gates blocking his path. The metal ‘appendages’ folded downwards, sliding back inside the gate as he walked forward, feeling security’s eyes stare at him. He got to the lobby of the building and sat down at a chair. Just as he was about to relax, one of the guards from earlier stepped up towards him. He motioned over with his gun and Enoch stood up, following him. The two walked down the halls as the guard stopped at a door. He opened it and Enoch stepped inside, seeing Kala twiddle her fingers and Marisol sit up. She shook his hand and the man sat next to Kala.

“You okay?” He whispered, putting an arm around her shoulders.

“She’s suspecting me,” Kala mumbled, her eyes widened. Under his arm, Enoch felt her body tremble as he turned to his friend.

“Wha-”

“Are you two even listening?! I have your applications ready.”

Enoch perked his head up as Marisol stared at him. She had lots of papers in front of her, some of which that Enoch couldn’t read. He nudged Kala and the girl looked up towards the corporate executive. She glanced down at her papers before handing them towards the two students. With the company's logo in the top right, Enoch scanned the paper as he filled his information out. A big paragraph of text made him squint, trying to read some legal mumbo jumbo that he didn’t quite understand. The word ‘Augment Program’ was in bolded and underlined text, drawing the student towards it. He glanced over at the words.

“CEO Chernova? What’s the Aug-”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” she said, cutting him off. “That’s just what we call your internship program. It’s perfectly normal. Just sign there.”

He did as she asked, looking over now and then to Kala. Other than her slight panic attack just moments before, she seemed relatively fine. Well, if you counted her blank stare as ‘normal,’ that is. Without another word, she slid the paper towards her new employer and so did Enoch. She grabbed them, placing the papers inside a bag and gestured for the two to follow her. Kala kept herself close to Enoch as they walked outside to Marisol’s large, armored car. Almost instantly, the two students were shoved in and the door nearly slammed shut in their faces.

“Wait!” Kala cried out. “What about our belongings?! You can’t just-”

“They’ve been collected. Quiet down, citizen,” was her only response as the car door closed. The vehicle instantly took off as Kala pressed her face to the window.

“This feels odd, it’s like we’re being held for ransom,” she pondered to herself. “Do you even know where we’re exactly going?”

“I-” Just before Enoch could answer, the car quickly stopped at a triangular building. He took notice of the rails going in and out of the building, with people walking in and out. The two exited the car as Marisol stretched, gesturing the two to follow her. People around them began to stop and stare as she flashed her ID at someone waiting by the door. WIth a fancy business suit and some type of metallic thing surrounding one of the figure’s eye, he led them towards a… bullet train? Just as Marisol was about to board, the man stopped her and showed her something similar to a diabetic’s blood sugar test.

“Are you kidding me?” Marisol asked. “I don’t need this, I’ve gone on this train many, many times and-”

“Why don’t you tell that to Amos? I’m sure he’d love to debate with you on why you lost the Presidential election, _Madame Vice President?”_ The sly grin on the man’s face made Marisol clench her fists. She muttered something under her breath, snatching the blood test out of his hands as she pricked her finger. She stuck it inside the oximeter and immediately yanked it out. The digitized text came up as ‘h. Sapien’ and Enoch stepped up to do his test. Just like Marisol, his came out with the same result. He stepped up onto the train hallway and stopped when he noticed Kala standing on the station. The man held up the test towards her, but she just stared at it.

“C’mon kid, I’m not gonna wait around because you’re scared of some blood. Let’s go,” Enoch glanced over to Kala, still frozen in place. For a moment, she mouthed the words ‘sorry’ to herself, then reached her finger out to the device.

The tension between the four of them was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. There were a few short beeps as the device flashed the words that she was a human. Stepping up onto the train, Enoch watched the man close the door as the CEO walked ahead of them. Passing by some empty seats, they stopped by a door that read ‘FOR SPECIAL PERSONS ONLY.’ With a retina scanner on the side of the doors, Marisol scanned her eye and the door opened. Enoch looked around him at the luxury interior, nodding quietly. He wasn’t _too_ impressed, his mouth curling into a line as he plopped down on a spherical chair. There were multiple spherical chairs, similar to the one Enoch was sitting in, facing the large, panoramic-like windows that gave anybody in the room view of the back end of the train. Separating the room in half was a couch, where the CEO had sat down as she rubbed her temples. Small, white end tables surrounded most of the chairs, with an empty wine glass waited to be served. The door slid open with a ‘ding!’ noise and a woman with tightly tied back blonde hair walked inside, placing suitcases in the open room. Kala let out a sigh of relief and Marisol leaned back on the couch.

“We’ll begin boarding the normal passengers, Ms. Chernova. Is there something I can get you to drink?”

“Get me a…. Belaya.” Mumble mumble.

“M’am, I don’t think you should-”

“It’s _my_ drink, I’m not forcing these two to drink it,” Marisol glared at the attendant as the worker mumbled something about ‘not being paid enough for this.’

Chatter soon took up the travel cars behind the trio as Marisol reached over to one of the end tables, grabbing a remote. Pressing it at one of the big windows, she pressed a button and . Showing a pale blue screen, ‘SPiTFiRE’ briefly appeared as it scrolled up to the top of the screen. A white line swiped past the display, showing branched off lines that listed the destination. A subsection of text rose up from the line, reading ‘Syracuse, NY.’ Other sections to the right of the city listed known New York cities, scrolling through them all until the final section came up: New York City. It switched back to the weather forecast as the assistant from earlier appeared again. Marisol held out her hand and the electric blue drink was placed in her hand.

“I apologize for not introducing myself earlier,” Marisol said, taking a sip of her specialized vodka. “But with the whole… ‘terrorism issue’ thing earlier, it just seemed to inappropriate at that time. Oh well.” She placed her drink down and held her hand out to Enoch. “-I am the President of the United States Senate and CEO of Bloodhound LLC, Marisol Chernova. You might know us from our involvement in the McMillan v. SPiTFiRE cases.”

“Enoch Cavanaugh, nice to meet you,” the boy said, shaking her hand. “I’ve heard about that. Something about their Valkyrie A.I. collecting their personal data and leaking it on black market websites?”

“The very same. Since it was just like all the other lawsuits, it was a waste of time, honestly,” she sighed. “They purposely roped me and my corporation in because we helped with the ‘beta testing’ process. In the end, they lost and I hear they disappeared.”

Enoch ignored the fact that _something_ might have happened to the plaintiff and glanced at his menu. It wasn’t too fancy, only listing food that would be considered to be appetizers in any normal restaurant. Kala had already circled something labelled ‘Crab Stuffed Mushrooms,’ staring at the paper like she hadn’t eaten in months. The other college student circled his choice and Marisol took their menus, placing them next to her. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by several light tones from the speaker.

“GOOD AFTERNOON, SPITFIRE PEREGRINE RAIL LINE RIDERS. THIS LINE ONLY HAS ONE STOP IN THE STATE CAPITAL BEFORE REACHING SPEEDS UP TO 250 MPH. REMEMBER TO SIT BACK, RELAX, AND ENJOY YOUR RIDE. SPITFIRE: UNBREAKABLE SPIRIT.” The same three chimes repeated as the train slowly began to move out of the station. Enoch got up and pressed himself up against the window, watching the locomotive leave the station. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see someone run out, grabbing their shoulder. Their gaze met Enoch’s, and just as he held his arm out, something shot him. The stranger fell to the ground, dead, as several security guards began to surround the body. Enoch gasped, stepping back as the train’s momentum made him stumble a bit. He felt a hand on his shoulder and saw his new boss turning him back around to his seat.

“Now, let me just quickly explain what’s going to happen once we get there.” Marisol said, planting her heels on the floor as the train surged forward to reach its high speeds. “I only brought you to this quiet area so I don’t have the elite on my ass for talking to some random kids. So-” She clapped her hands, making strange shutters close down on the windows as a digital screen came down between the three people. Marisol placed her hand on the screen and it flashed for a few moments before showing a map of Manhattan Island.

“Since both of you applied to our paid internship program for, I don’t know, extra credits, I’m assigning the both of you to work at one of my buildings in Rockefeller Center,” she explained, tapping one of the tall buildings in the highlighted space. “You don’t need to worry about living costs or anything, our staff will take care of it and you’ll be close by. Point is, this’ll go by for a year before we return you back to Syracuse.” The door opened again as another assistant took the paper menus away from the trio as the CEO continued her ‘speech.’

“Now, you won’t be alone. I already grabbed a… worker of mine from UPENN to help you two out. No need to worry, she’s nice. One of my closest top aides, honestly.”

“Wait. Wait, you can’t do this! We don’t even know what we’re supposed to be doing! Y-you just kidnapped us and-” Kala’s complaint was cut off by Marisol laughing at her, shaking her drink at the girl. Marisol took another long sip of her drink and shook her head, the corners of her mouth twitching.

“I ‘kidnapped’ you? Listen, you signed both the contracts before and after my arrival to campus. If anything, the both of you consented to this-” She waved her arms around, trying to think of the certain word. “-job. Yes. And what’s with you, Ms. Shamar? You look pale, are you sick?” Marisol asked, as Kala shook her head, despite her having a vice-like grip on one of the chair’s arms. Something labelled ‘V. REICHTER’ showed up in the corner of the screen and the CEO groaned, standing up.

“Hold on, I have to answer this call. Don’t-Don’t friggin’ touch my vodka.”

And just like that, she left, leaving the two college students alone. Silence passed through the two of them, besides the fading angry Russian that Enoch could barely hear.

“What was that?!” Enoch hissed, after elbowing his friend. “You keep panicking for no reason. What’s going on with you?” In response, the grip on the chair’s arm got tighter and Kala tried to look away from Enoch’s face.

“I’m fi- look, can we talk about something else?”

“No. Look, every time she _breathes_ it’s like you’re having a panic attack. You didn’t even get this nervous when you were doing those CLEP tests. What’s. Wrong?” Enoch reached out and grabbed Kala’s hands. She paused and looked past the door to make sure Marisol wasn’t going to barge in on them and her posture loosened.

“I want you to think about this for a minute. Just- just a few minutes, okay?”

“Okay,” Enoch affirmed, nodding, letting go of his friend.

“According to this person we barely or _never_ see, we’re going with her to New York to get some part-time job. You might know this more than me because, well, you’re studying business, but doesn’t that seem a _bit_ off to you that she just grabbed us and left?” Kala finished her tangent, raising her eyebrow as the shutters on the windows suddenly lifted up, causing Kala to jump in her seat. Enoch briefly looked outside to see upstate New York’s forests as he twiddled his thumbs.

“Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t, Ka,” Enoch said. “Point is, we did sign those consent forms so we’re obligated to follow everything she says. I’m sorry, but-”

“No, no, you’re right. I’m stupid,” Kala huffed.

“You’re not stupid! You’re here with me and you were this close to having a panic attack, it’s okay to be scared. You can say that you’re scared but that doesn’t mean you’re dumb,” Enoch said. “I-”

Just before he could say anything, Marisol opened up the door, screaming something foreign at her caller. Enoch swallowed dryly as he turned to Kala and shook his head, gesturing to the CEO. Marisol paused mid-conversation and made a ‘follow me’ gesture to the two young adults. They both got up from their seats and followed the older woman. Enoch tried to listen to anything in the phone call that sounded familiar, but all he got was angry foreign gibberish that he couldn’t quite understand. The group stopped in front of another door where a Spitfire attendant opened the door for them. At that instant, Marisol pressed something on her call screen and took a deep breath.

The scent of fresh, ‘home’ cooked food slapped Enoch’s nose, making his stomach clench in hunger. He could see nice seats with tables covered in ivory cloth. Near the center of the dining car was an empty table with a little note that read ‘RESERVED’ with a tiny seal of the United States Senate below it. Enoch slid over in the seats, eyeing the oysters arranged neatly on a plate before him. Enoch involuntarily shivered at the feeling of people staring at him, despite him being at the same social class as the rest of them. After all, who else could afford a bullet train service all the way from Montreal to New York City? Regardless of this feeling, he grabbed his fork and began to eat.

***

After eating his meal and riding the train (which ended up _surging_ forward in speed as soon as it left its station in Albany), Enoch awoke from a little nap to be yanked off of his seat and to New York City’s Penn Station. He didn’t notice anything of note, only just Marisol quickly ushering the two of them into some car as the paparazzi threatened to close in on them. Next thing he knew, something dragged him up to an elevator and Enoch felt something being pushed into his hands.

“Anyway, here’s your room. I personally arranged a few… things to accommodate you. If you have any questions, call me,” Marisol had explained back then, making a ‘phone’ gesture with her one hand. And just like that, she left the two young adults alone to explore their brand new penthouse.

The two students ended up settling in comfortably and were eating take out in the penthouse’s ‘yard.’ The city lights glimmered all around them as honking cars and brief announcements from the jumbotrons surrounding the neighborhood became white noise to the students’ ears. Even though there was a faint gas smell coming from the sky, Enoch quickly got used to living in the country’s largest city. Enoch walked over to the railing of the apartment and watched tiny people go to and from stores and their tiny apartments. Enoch looked up at the Bloodhound LLC building that towered over the neighborhood, smiling to himself. This was a fresh new start for him, something that he could look forward to. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

He put his leftover takeout that he didn’t eat in the fridge and threw away his trash. Enoch walked up to his bedroom and shut the curtains, collapsing on his bed. He barely managed to shove his clothes off of him as he felt his eyelids become heavy. He could barely hear Kala telling him ‘good night’ as he faded into unconsciousness. A comforting black void.

Or so it was.

Enoch’s eyes snapped open as he found himself in a dark, shadowy place. A low buzzing tone echoed in the area as he looked down at himself, still wearing the same clothes as he did when he passed out. His footsteps resonated in the endless space as he began to walk forward. Something ended up shoving him to the floor and Enoch gasped. He used his arms to prop himself up, trying to resist the force holding him down on his back. Alas, his efforts were wasted as Enoch could feel something fluttering in his stomach. The sensation reached up to his throat, and Enoch began to cough. Something slippery went past his lips and was promptly spat out on the floor. Enoch heaved and looked down at the unknown object and his eyes grew in size, his breathing becoming discordant.

It was a butterfly. A dead one.

More coughs ran through Enoch as more and more butterflies, either dead or somehow still alive, burst out of his mouth. His throat felt scratchy as Enoch reached out to them, for some odd reason, and something wrapped around his ankle. It dragged him back as Enoch screeched out something unintelligible, before it let go and he began to fall, straight to his doom.

Why did this feel familiar? Why did it feel so close to home?

Why-

“What are you doing on the floor?”

Enoch, now staring up at Kala from the mess of covers draped over from his bed onto the carpet, blinked up at her. The girl tapped her foot impatiently, wearing a blouse with a neat skirt. Enoch reoriented himself, standing up and stretching as his body groaned with relief. He glanced over at the clock on his nightstand, reading 6:30-

Wait.

_6:30?!_

“Oh shit!” Enoch shoved past Kala, almost causing the dark-skinned girl to stumble on the tangled mass of sheets. He made it into his private bathroom, grabbing a change of clothes along the way as he lurched forward to make up for the lost time. He could hear Kala’s heels clicking into the floor, following him around. Hell, he ended up slamming the bathroom door in her face. The last thing he saw was her brows furrowed and her dark brown eyes glaring into his soul.

“I know you like to sleep in, but you’re forgetting that the internship starts _right away!_ ” Kala’s voice was drowned out by Enoch turning on the shower as the male winced at the hot water splashing on his skin. He tried to not let the shampoo or conditioner burn his eyes as he increased his pace. Enoch could barely hear Kala lecturing him as he ended the quick shower, drying his hair and putting on nice clothing. He opened up the door again and sheepishly smiled to Kala. She reached out and grabbed his wrist, causing Enoch to stumble. Once they both got to the door leading outside of their apartment, Kala handed Enoch his cellphone and opened up the door. They walked outside of their home and got onto an elevator.

“Someone representing Bloodhound LLC called earlier today while you were snoring away,” Kala explained. “I’m not sure who it was exactly, but they said that the assistant that Ms. Chernova mentioned is waiting for us. Just look for someone with red glasses.”

“It’s just an internship thing. Why make it sound so cryptic?” Enoch wondered.

“Don’t ask me. I’m the one that got the call, not your sleepy ass.”

“Rude!” Enoch hissed, a grin stretching his face as he playfully slapped Kala’ arm. She smiled back at him and a light giggle went through her. A ding went through the small space as the doors opened. Kala and Enoch shoved themselves through a crowd of people as the dark skinned girl handed the entry card to their penthouse to some security guard by the door. Together with Enoch, she went through the automated doors into the outside world.

To their new worklife.


End file.
